Red Bank Catholic baseball wins first sectional title since 1997 by doing the little things

RED BANK - Sean Griggs took a risk that paid off in the Red Bank Catholic baseball team winning its first NJSIAA sectional championship since 1997 with a 4-1 win over St. Joseph (Metuchen) Saturday at Count Basie Park in the NJSIAA Non-Public South A championship game.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning and the score 1-1, Griggs was standing on third base when a pitch from Falcons' submarining right-hander Jimmy Mulvaney went off catcher Mark Gialluisi's glove.

Griggs then had to make a quick decision. There is not a lot of room between home plate and the backstop at Count Basie Park. Also, on a lot if wild pitches and passed balls at Count Basie Park, the ball can bounce right back to the catcher.

"I should have went,'' Griggs said when asked if he hesitated.

But, once Griggs saw the ball was not bouncing right back to Giallusi, he took off and beat the throw home to give the Caseys the lead. Red Bank Catholic would add two more runs later in the inning.

"I saw the ball kick back to the right of the catcher. He had to run a while to get there,'' Griggs, a junior third baseman, said. "He had to slide and make a very tough play. I had to put the pressure on them.''

"I really didn't see it well either,'' Red Bank Catholic coach Buddy Hausmann, who was in the third base coaches' box, said. "He (Griggs) saw it better than me. I didn't see it kick away. I lost it. ''

Griggs' decision showed why the baserunning drills every team does every day in practice are important.

"We call it our special teams. It's the first thing we do every day in practice,'' Hausmann said. "If you're good at it, it can win you a game.''

A sacrifice fly by Matt Brunner and RBI single by Brendan Kopec added the final two runs of the sixth and then Alex Stanyek and reliever Ethan Marzo combined to retire the side in order in the seventh.

WHAT IT MEANS

It was the first sectional championship since 1997 for Red Bank Catholic. Hausmann pitched the sectional final in 1997, when the Caseys won Non-Public South B and state championship.

"I actually said to Alex (Friday) when he was warming up, I go, 'Can you win (Saturday) so when you come and coach with me some day, they can talk about you and not me,' '' Hausmann joked about being tired of hearing he was the pitcher when Red Bank Catholic last won a sectional title. "He (Stanyek) had no idea what I was talking about.''

For Red Bank Catholic's seniors, Saturday was another step in erasing some painful memories from the last two seasons, including the heartbreaking 6-5 defeat in eight innings to St. Augustine in the 2021 sectional final.

"This means a lot to Coach Hausmann and the coaches, and it especially means a lot to our seniors because we didn't want them walking out of here without a state championship,'' Griggs said.

The gritty performance of Stanyek on the mound helped the Caseys (24-5) stay in the game until they could finally scrape things together against the hard to see delivery and tailing away pitches from Mulvaney.

Stanyek, in his first start since Red Bank Catholic's 2-0 win over Ranney May 21 in the Shore Conference Tournament championship, overcame a first two innings where he threw 54 pitches. He retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced, allowed three hits - none after a leadoff single in the second - struck out nine and walked two while throwing 111 pitches.

"We're just playing so hard for each other,'' Stanyek said. "I never been a part of a group like this, that plays for each other like this.''

The Caseys will meet defending Nonpublic A state champion Don Bosco Prep (26-5) Thursday at 7 p.m. at Bob DeMeo Field in Veterans Park, Hamilton Township, in the Nonpublic A championship game.

Don Bosco Prep defeated Bergen Catholic 2-1 in eight innings Saturday in the North A championship game.

KEY PLAY

The momentum swung Red Bank Catholic's way in the top of the sixth when Brunner, a junior center fielder, made a leaping, diving catch of a smash off the bat of Josiah Brown leading off the inning.

"I did not have a good jump on it. I did not see it off the bat,'' Brunner said. "I went after it. I said no fly zone before the inning even started it. When I spread it, I was like, 'I'm getting to this'. When I jumped, I was like, 'Yeah, I've got this'. ''

"That ball was well-hit. That could have been an inside the parker if he misses it,'' Hausmann said. "That was just a tremendous play. He's been doing it all year.''

SMALL BALL PAYS OFF RED BANK CATHOLIC

The bunt game played a key role for the Caseys.

A sacrifice bunt Kopec in the fifth after Brunner was hit by a pitch leading off the inning moved to Brunner to second and he was able to score the tying run on a two-out throwing error on Max Dantoni's ground ball to short.

In the sixth, after Griggs led off with a single to center, a sacrifice bunt by Frank Scrivanic - the No. 3 batter - resulted in a throwing error.

"The first thing we do when we start in March (practice for the season) is we bunt,'' Hausmann said. "I say, 'I don't know when we're going to need it, but you have to be a good at it and you have to execute it. Having to get a bunt down could mean a state championship' ''

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Shore NJ Baseball: RBC wins sectional title by doing the little things